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• Desert Tarantula

Tarantulas are members of phylum Arthropoda.  This phylum includes insects as well as arthropods, such as scorpions, crabs, and lobsters. It is the largest animal phylum, containing 80% of the animals in the world.  All members have an exoskeleton (carapace), which acts as protective armor, instead of bones.

STATUS:  Tarantulas are not endangered or threatened.

HABITAT:  Desert tarantulas live in the arid and semi-arid deserts of the southwest, as well as the nearby foothills.  They dig their own burrows or live in empty ones vacated by small mammals.

DIET:  Tarantulas are predacious fluid feeders, which means that their oral enzymes liquefy the tissues of their prey (beetles, grasshoppers, small mammals, and reptiles), which are sucked into their midgut where they are digested and absorbed.  They do not spin webs but rather capture they prey by pursuit.  (The tarantula does manufacture spider “silk,” but it oozes out rather messily).
 
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:  Tarantulas are members of the spider family Theraphosidae (order Araneida), and thus have 8 legs.  They also have 8 eyes on the top of their “head”, almost like a turret. They have 2 large mouth parts which can be mistaken for extra legs at first glance.  The front section (cephalothorax) is round and varies from gray to dark brown.  The abdomen is also round, but much darker.  They are not actually hairy; those are spines on their legs. 

Worrisome Wasps

Tarantulas have many natural enemies including lizards, snakes, birds, and the tarantula hawk wasp. The tarantula hawk wasp uses the tarantula as part of its life cycle—turning its body into a nest for its larvae! The wasp immobilizes the tarantula by stinging it.  Then the wasp deposits its eggs in the tarantula’s abdomen.  When the eggs hatch, the larvae feed on the tarantula’s body.